This paper proposes an analytical distinction between modes of valorising and modes of valuing social reproduction to suggest that a conflict between these two opposing modes lies at the heart of an ongoing crisis of social reproduction in the face of purported economic recovery, where unpaid reproductive labour constitutes a source of surplus value. A systemic imperative to expand markets in the pursuit of profitability goes hand in hand with a devaluation of social reproduction, either by making this work invisible or by externalising its cost. The paper analyses the specificities of this process in the context of contemporary Britain and investigates the role of the state, focusing on volunteering and new forms of 'affective remuneration' linked to financialisation and the connection between social reproduction and wealth extraction. In conclusion, the paper outlines the contours of possible counter-practices informed by a feminist politics.
KeywordsSocial reproduction, affective remuneration, financialisation, affective labour, volunteering, valorisation, feminism.
2The only good thing about living in austerity Britain is that through pushing us into a corner, the government and the money that controls it is unwittingly training up a generation of fighters. Some of us will kick and scream. Others will be by the ringside healing the wounded. And the rest? We'll be coming up with new ways of undermining the violence raining down on us from above. We'll be digging the tunnels and laying the path for a better and ultra-civil society where there won't be a deserving or undeserving divide … just people, a planet and the mutual care of both.Leah Borromeo 1Feminist politics regarding social reproduction makes visible the hidden, unacknowledged and unpaid reproductive work predominantly carried out by women in the home, in communities and in gendered ways in the workplace. Key to this struggle has been the denaturalisation of women as assistants, carers and housewives seen as performing unpaid reproductive labour out of affection or responsibility for those they care for, or because it has been considered their social role. Feminist struggle has also sought to achieve social and cultural recognition of reproductive work as work, demanding independent and direct remuneration as well as an explicit accounting for its value in national economies. Overall, feminist struggles have sought to challenge the roles assigned to women and thus de-gender 2 the social division of labour, not simply for the purposes of achieving equality between the sexes, but to bring about an altogether different kind of society, thereby highlighting the value of social reproduction for intersectional struggles against exploitation, oppression and the destruction of the environment.The premise of this paper is that social reproduction is still not valued in such ways,
Organising against the crisis of social reproductionSocial reproduction, the work of producing labour power and life, can be understood in terms of spheres -the places wher...